


Snow Days

by robliz



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F, different first meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 18:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13840242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robliz/pseuds/robliz
Summary: A kind stranger in a 4x4 offers Serena a lift home in the snow.Inspired by the rather challenging walk to and from work this week through the snow!





	Snow Days

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot for now but I might expand on it in the future. Depends whether inspiration strikes or not!

“Stupid snow,” Serena muttered under her breath as she fought her way across the car park towards her car.

The five inches of snow that had fallen during her night shift had meant that moving her car was impossible but at least she had some bad weather gear in the boot. Opening the boot proved to be a struggle though. It seemed to have frozen shut. She briefly debated climbing into the boot through the back seat of the car before finding her antifreeze spray. With a few sprays and a good tug, the boot sprung open, covering Serena in an avalanche of snow.

“Aaah!” she screamed at the sky, mad at the weather gods.

She pulled out wellies, thick socks and an extra fleece and sat down on the edge of the boot to pull them on. Then she patted the car miserably as she contemplated the long walk home and back in the morning without it.

It was a bit of a trudge along the footpath. The snow was drifting now, the wind whipping it off the walls and straight into her face. She pulled her scarf closer around her face and continued. Cars covered in snow littered the road, some clearly abandoned when their owners hit a bad patch. Serena hoped that there was still enough space to get the ambulances past.

She’d nearly reached the main road when a car came up behind her and beeped its horn. She turned, thinking to give the driver a piece of her mind, beeping at her for no reason, to find a woman with her head stuck out the window of a 4x4.

“You work up at the hospital right?” the woman said, her blonde hair escaping from underneath her bright pink bobble hat.

Serena nodded, unsure where this was leading.

“I’ve just started on Keller,” the woman continued.

Serena wracked her brain for a moment for the name, she distinctly remembered a conversation the other day with Hanssen about a new starter on Keller.

“Ah, you must be Berenice Wolfe,” she said, her brain providing her with the name, “I’m Serena Campbell, head of AAU. Good week to start!”

“Bernie please. Listen, do you need a lift home?” Bernie asked, looking at Serena with big brown eyes.

Serena smiled, “That would be amazing.”

She walked around the car as Bernie leant over and opened the passenger door. The car was deliciously warm after the frigid temperatures outside. Bernie set off driving down the road, expertly dodging the cars and ploughing through the snow as if it were nothing.

“Must be a bit of a shock, all this snow after the heat of Afghanistan,” Serena said.

“Just a bit!” Bernie laughed, “I’m just glad my husband lent me his car today. Mine would never have made it.”

They reached the main road, usually a dual carriageway, to find one lane completely covered in snow and just a single set of tyre tracks in the other lane.

“I should have asked before, but um where do you live?” Bernie asked, her hand at the indicator. Her shoulders were tense and her voice shook slightly.

Serena promptly reeled off her address and a few directions.

Bernie visibly relaxed and smiled. “Oh you are quite close to me!”

She flipped the indicator and turned left, following the tyre tracks along the road.

“This reminds me of winters when I was little,” Bernie said after a few moments, “I used to love playing out in the snow, sledging, building snowmen, snowball fights.”

“I just used to like curling up with a book in front of the fire and avoiding all that nasty white stuff,” Serena commented. “It was awful when Ellie wanted to play out in it when she was little. I was so glad when that phase of her life was over.”

Bernie’s face dropped, her eyes suddenly glistening with unshed tears.

“Are you okay?” Serena asked gently, wondering what had upset her rescuer, “Bernie?”

“It’s just,” Bernie started then sighed. “It’s fine, I’m fine.”

Serena turned slightly in her seat, “Look, I know we have only just met but if you want to tell me, you can you know.” She reached out a hand and placed it gently on Bernie’s arm. The jumper Bernie was wearing was soft and she couldn’t help but run her thumb up and down along it.

Bernie glanced away from the road for a second and gave Serena a small smile.

“It’s silly,” she said, her cheeks turning faintly red.

“It’s not silly if it matters to you.”

Bernie took a deep breath. “It’s just that I always wanted to take my kids out sledging and stuff but I missed it. I was always away when they had snow days.”

“In Afghanistan?”

“Or Iraq. Or just training somewhere in the UK. But never at home.”

Serena squeezed Bernie’s arm in reassurance. “Could you take them out today?”

Bernie let out a honk of laughter. “I don’t think they’d appreciate that now they are both in their twenties!”

“Never know until you ask!” Serena retorted, “There’s no age limit on having fun.”

Bernie went very quiet suddenly. They drove along the main road, towards the suburb they both lived in, in total silence.

“Tell me about your children,” Serena said eventually, wanting to break the awkward silence.

Bernie startled at the noise and Serena replaced her hand on her arm. “Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s okay.” Bernie said. “I’ve got two, Cameron and Charlotte.” She smiled as she thought of them. “Cam’s taking some time out from medical school at the moment but I’m hoping to persuade him back. Lottie’s in the middle of a history degree.”

“I’ve just got the one, Elinor. She’s busy being a precocious little madam while completing an English degree so I have an empty house at the moment.”

“What about her dad?” Bernie asked, then immediately regretted her words, “I’m sorry. That was way too personal.”

“No, don’t worry,” Serena replied. She felt strangely comfortable discussing her private life with this almost complete stranger. “We divorced years ago. He was an idiot.”

Bernie indicated off the road and turned past a corner shop with a sign outside stating that they had no more milk or bread.

“Next right?” she checked with Serena.

“Next right.”

The car neatly rode over the snow drifts now covering half the road before turning onto Serena’s estate.

“So how are you finding the quiet life in Keller?” Serena asked. “Bit different to army life?”

“It’s…” Bernie paused for a moment. “It’s nice. Gives me a chance to reconnect with my family.” She gave Serena a quick smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Just turn left up here,” Serena said. “Well I think you should take them all out sledging. What could help you reconnect more than getting wet, cold and miserable together?”

Bernie laughed, a laugh like a goose honk that had Serena laughing as well. She waved her hand to stop Bernie as they reached her house, laughing too hard to speak.

Bernie pulled up to where the kerb would be, if everything hadn’t gone completely white, and put on the hand brake.

“Thanks for the lift,” Serena said, her laughter calming down.

“Any time,” Bernie replied.

Serena reached out to open the car door but Bernie grasped her arm to stop her. She scribbled something on a old receipt stuck in the ash tray and thrust it into Serena’s hand.

“My number,” she said in explanation, “So you can ring me if you need a lift again.”

“Thanks.”

Bernie looked at her, eyes wide. “I mean it. I’d like to help you.”

Serena stared back. “Ok,” she said in a small voice. She was mesmerised by the intensity of Bernie’s stare. She shook her head to rid herself of it and gave her a mischievous grin. “I promise I’ll ring you if you promise you’ll take you kids out sledging, your husband too if you like.”

Bernie smiled. “You’re on!”

Serena gave Bernie one last smile before hopping out of the car and slamming the door behind her. Bernie waited until Serena had got the door open, a significant amount of snow ending up in the hallway, before driving off. Serena waved her off from the front door step and then closed the door. She dug her phone out from her bag and programmed Bernie’s number into it. She liked Bernie, she decided. She was kind and easy to talk to. It had been a long time since Serena had worked with another female consultant of a similar age. She hoped they could be friends.

 


End file.
